


Side Effects May Include

by MiraLogical



Category: Thomas Sanders
Genre: ALL ABOARD THE ANGST TRAIN, Fanderdom, Gen, I'm trying here, Medications, Side Effects, Undecided Ending - You Have Been Warned, Warning for pain and tears... I hope, Whump, because anti-anxiety medications won't just hurt Anx if things go wrong
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-16 15:54:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10574592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiraLogical/pseuds/MiraLogical
Summary: In which Thomas attempts to help Anxiety get his emotions under control, but when everything begins, it's not just Anxiety who is suffering...A.K.A. A slow downhill trek into the Angst Abyss because if anti-anxiety meds had bad side effects for Thomas it most likely wouldn't just affect Anxiety.





	1. Logan (Has A Plan)

“Thomas, you need to face this with a clear head.” The other three traits were busy having another one of their giant arguments, so Logan had taken the time to chat with their host. “I know you value each one of your sides, and believe me, so do we. We just think it might benefit you, and us, and him a little bit if Anxiety could be a bit more… under control.”  
Thomas couldn’t exactly argue with that, but Logan saw trepidation pass over his face. “I don’t know. I mean, it’s logical, but… he already thinks I don’t like him.”  
“You’ll be helping him, too. You know he needs to get a handle on his emotions, all studies show this will let him do that. He isn’t just here to torment you, he himself has to deal with the same Anxiety you face, on a much higher level. This will allow us all to finally function properly.”  
“Well…”  
“I know you’re concerned about him, about how this might affect him. I assure you, I will be keeping an extremely watchful eye on Anxiety, and if he is in any sort of danger, I will alert you immediately. It will be a well-documented experiment.” Logan was a scientist and a scholar. He knew how to be safe about testing a hypothesis. “At any rate, even your own doctor suggested this. Don’t you trust them?”  
The argument inside the mindscape was growing to such extravagant levels that Logan could see the beginnings of a tension headache forming on their host’s face. Really, the others ought to learn to keep it down in there. Hopefully with Anxiety a little bit more capable of self-control, their dynamic would change and lower to a manageable level.  
It was just too much for Thomas to deal with, and they all knew it. Most of the problem was that they couldn’t function as a normal set of traits would when Anxiety had Thomas’s ear all the time. With any luck, Logan and Thomas’s doctor could change that today.  
“...all right,” the host relented, and Logan smiled. “I’ll pick up the prescription today, but you have to promise me you’ll keep a close eye on things.  
“You know me, Thomas. I would never let anything escape my notice.” He adjusted his glasses and smiled. “Do not worry, there is an extremely high probability of success. After all, your doctor would not have prescribed anti-anxiety medication if it wasn’t the obvious solution.”


	2. The Calm...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan just wants some time alone with Thomas for some reason, Morality wishes his kids would stop fighting, and Anxiety would love to go back to sleep. Unfortunately, they all have jobs to do, so that's probably not going to happen.

Morality was doing his best to keep the peace between Roman and Anxiety… again. He huffed out a sigh. He wished they would just accept each other. Neither was good for Thomas all the time, but both were essential parts of his personality, they shouldn’t keep fighting all the time. He supposed it was just the way those two would always be.  
“Okay, let’s take a few deep breaths, kiddos. Neither of you are a… what did you just call each other? Roman, Anxiety is not a soul-sucking pit monster. Anxiety, Roman is not a two-year-old in a leotard. He is a perfectly respectable fanciful side in a leotard.”  
“I was referring to his mental age,” Anxiety shot back, only for the argument to be interrupted by the reappearance of Logan in the common room. “Where have you been? I’ve had to deal with the sunniness all by myself.”  
Logan looked a bit stressed, but sat cross-legged on the floor with them anyway. “Avoiding this pointless argument. I’m back now, though. Have you all gotten anywhere?”  
“What do you think?” Anxiety smirked. “We probably aren’t going to, either, with the stupid ideas Princey keeps trying to make us like.”  
“Oh, excuse me, what have you contributed to this conversation?” Roman jumped to his feet. “All you’ve done is sit there and insult me for two hours! I’m doing all the work here, how is any of this my fault?”  
“Excuse you indeed,” Anxiety shot back. “I’ve been making sure we don’t do something utterly worthless just because you think it would be fun. Half those ideas are garbage and the other half are trash.”  
“Like you, you mean?”  
“Boys!” Morality stood up. He had had enough. “We’ll come back to this tomorrow, all right? When perhaps both of you are a little bit calmer.”  
Anxiety lifted one eyebrow and looked about to respond, probably ready to say how unlikely that was, but Logan cut him off. “Excellent idea. I’ll take care of everything tonight, and we’ll try this all again in the morning.”  
“Off to bed with you now, boys.” He gave both Anxiety and Roman the ‘Disappointed Dad Stare’ until they sank down, grumbling. “Thanks, Logan. You’re the best!”  
“Ah, okay. Listen, how about I clean up tonight, you look like they’ve pretty much exhausted you.” The logical side was looking very nervous for the next day and the resuming of the argument, but Morality couldn’t blame him when he was feeling the exact same way. Being the embodiment of Thomas’s morality and heart meant he absolutely did not enjoy it when the others fought, or weren’t feeling good. He hoped they were all having good days tomorrow.  
“All right, thanks, Logan.” He could tell the teacher needed some time alone, and he knew when to get out of the way. Hopefully he would look after Thomas tonight. “Don’t forget to remind him to drink lots of water and go to bed at a reasonable-”  
“Yeah, got it Mo, thanks.” Logan waved him off, as he so often did. Morality shrugged and sank down into his own room, leaving Logan the dominating trait for the end of the night. Things would look a little better in the morning.

***

Anxiety knew something was wrong at about two in the morning. He then decided something was very, very wrong at two-thirty. By four a.m. he was convinced he was doomed. So, basically, he was having a very normal night.  
He rarely got much sleep, with his brain constantly informing him disaster was just around the corner and headed straight for him. Tonight he was particularly on edge, probably because of the argument he had been having with Princey. Like, this totally was not his fault! One of the idiot’s ideas had involved having someone jump off the roof! Like Thomas would want someone’s death on his conscience!  
He really did want Thomas to make a good video. The problem was, he didn’t want Thomas to make a bad video. Why didn’t Roman understand that? He had the exact same problem with perfectionism!  
Distracted with his own thoughts, he managed at last to push away the horrible feeling of something being wrong long enough to fall asleep. It had taken him until five o’clock in the morning, but that was about normal. Hopefully Thomas wouldn’t wake up before eight, or he wouldn’t be able to function very well.  
Luck was on his side. Thomas slept in, not waking up until after ten. Anxiety felt the pull of his job and rose into the common room with a loud, “Are you sure you didn’t have anything to do today? Maybe you’re already late.”  
Thomas hesitated a moment, then turned toward him. “I already checked.”  
“But did you really?” He smirked. At least Thomas was paying attention to him today, that probably meant he was going to get to contribute and maybe even sway the argument they had postponed. He pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head. “Are you sure? They’ll probably get made if you miss it.”  
“If I miss what? You know what, never mind, I’ll check again.” Thomas sighed and moved to his calendar. “See? Nothing today, nothing at all.”  
“Maybe you forgot to write it down. Have you checked your phone? Better call everyone just to make sure you aren’t ditching plans, wouldn’t want to lose any friends, oh no, what if you have an appointment you didn’t-”  
Logan popped up, already interrupting him. “Thomas does not have anything today, I’m on top of it. Good morning, Thomas. Good job on getting out of bed so early, the day awaits.”  
Morality was only a step behind. Great. Half of the sunshine trio, already awake. Usually Morality slept in a few minutes until Thomas was emotionally situated. “Morning, kiddos! Thomas, sleep well? I did!”  
“You know, I did too!” The boy practically sparkled. “And yes, I drank a glass of water before bed, Logan reminded me. What should we have for breakfast? I’m thinking cinnamon rolls.”  
“Thomas, we’ve talked about this,” Morality chided. “You need to eat healthy things, especially for breakfast! It’s the most important meal of the day!”  
Anxiety couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Eat the cinnamon roll, if you try to make eggs or something you’ll probably set the kitchen on fire. Wouldn’t that be a great start to the day?”  
Logan shot him an angry glance. “I can see you’re on edge today, Anxiety. Would it really be so bad to let him try making a healthy lifestyle choice so he can get the protein he needs to be alert and learn today?”  
“As if we’re actually going to get into better habits just because he makes-”  
“That’s enough. We’re having eggs,” Logan decided, and Morality bobbed his head. Anxiety rolled his eyes. If they burned down the kitchen, it would not be his fault, although they’d probably find a way to act like it anyway.  
Any minute now, Thomas would be fully awake, and the nightmare would begin. Roman never got up until the daydreaming started, and so he was always the last to get out of bed. “Well, I’m going to chill in my room for a while have a good time.”  
“Oh, you are? We will.” Thomas probably hadn’t meant to link those two, but Anxiety’s mind automatically connected them. As long as he was gone, they’d probably be pretty happy out here… although that happiness came at a price. If someone did something stupid or they let Roman talk them into jumping off the roof again, it would not be his fault.  
“Well, come get me when things go wrong,” he said, as he so often did. They never came and got him, of course. Why would they, when they just thought he would make things worse?  
For the first time in several months, Anxiety was able to ignore the pressing terror of leaving Thomas alone with the other sides, and go back to sleep.  
Today might require his presence, but they’d just have to deal with cooking and working and socializing without his protection, because he was too fucking tired for this shit.  
He slept right through until the next morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the filler chapter, I am assuming things would not go too wrong the first day. Also, I will be changing points of view as I feel like and as works for the plot, but I'm guessing there's going to be a lot of Anx? I'm trying to write in-character but it's not something I'm fantastic about. Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to thank the Sin Pit and both Angst(y) Hell discord channels for making me laugh and also cry. I also apologize for my irregular updating schedule. This work will also be posted on my tumblr, @ana-logical.


End file.
